Join me for a free 20-minute virtual classroom read-aloud followed by kids questions on Feb 5 for World Read Aloud Day! My sign up can be found here. More info on World Read Aloud Day Can be found here. Happy Reading!
Allied Arts Holiday Festival
Hey look—that’s my art for sale! Anyone in Bellingham, WA (where I live) between Friday 11/22 and 12/24, make your way to the Allied Arts Holiday Festival of The Arts downtown at 1331 Commercial Street (kinda near the Pickford) to check it out. Open daily from 10-6, except closed on Thanksgiving and closes at 3 on Christmas Eve.
Here’s a preview of some of the journals I have at the show but I also have prints, cards, and zines. Let me know if you stop by!
Been making some new art for shows!
Okay, admittedly I have lots of happy places, but anywhere I spend time reading is a happy place for sure.
Reading Is My Happy Place
Been making some new art for shows this fall. Thought I’d post some of it here!
Also it’s dahlia season, so I guess the flowers have been inspiring me.
Some examples of homemade journals I showed the kids, also my book! Writing in journals helped me become an author!
I love school visits!
Yay for author school visits! I recently got to share my love of writing and creativity with the second graders at Geneva Elementary here in Bellingham, AND I guided them in making their very own journals. We had SO MUCH FUN!
I love doing school visits!
These are kinda what the kids journals ended up looking like (they are the examples). Next to a gnome in the Library.
Some of my favorite comments from kids from the day:
“I think your name (kj) could stand for Kitty of Justice. That could be your superhero!”
“This journal I made is potentially very dangerous. I mean, think of all the paper cuts that it could give someone.”
When invited to share what a journal is or could be, one kid said: “My happy place.”
Other delights: I hung out eith lots of gnomes between sessions (the Geneva mascot) and I did a silly walk next to the silly walk sign. A happy happy day! Thank you to my friend Mrs. Ritchie for inviting me!
A Night Of Collective Effervescensce and The Northern Lights, in a zine
I made a zine about watching the Northern Lights on Mother’s Day Weekend:
A magic night
Happy 4th Book Birthday to The Elephants' Guide To Hide-And-Seek!
It’s been 4 years (and a week or so) since The Elephants’ Guide to Hide-And-Seek became a book! Happy (belated) Book Birthday to to this cheerful book that’s been a joy to share with so many kids over the last few years. And Happy Spring too!
WWA SCBWI art show!
For those in the Seattle area, I have three pieces included at the Western Washington SCBWI art show at the Seattle Convention Center through mid-July. Check it out!
Posted this for Kidlit postcard day on Instagram this past month
Gratitude for fellow kid lit creators
Sometimes I participate in Kidlit postcard day on Instagram. This past month I shared this piece I made inspired by happy memories on the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec with my husband’s family. I also wrote the following message and I thought it might be a nice thing to cross-post here in case any fellow kid lit creators stumble across my corner of the internet and could use a lift:
Books have offered me refuge so many times in life, but especially as a kid. I think this is a big reason why I keep writing and making art for kids—making stories that offer a different way, a different space, new perspective—it’s work I want to be a part of and support.
And to that purpose today I’m also sending good wishes to all my fellow kidlit artists out there. I hope you are doing whatever you need to do to sustain your work. The refuge and perspective your work offers kids is so important. I’m grateful you keep at it. Especially when the world feels the most rocky or uncertain, please keep keeping at it. The world needs what you do.
Cheers all! Happy creating.